Daazelbazan - City of the Anti-Hero Bards

"To rage in sound this valiant despair

Doom and gloom as each a splendid pair..."

Field Guide to the Shadowdrift

Hex #247

Daazelbazan is a walled city in an ash-gray landscape. Far from the legendary splendors of Celephais or the sandstone walls and brass towers of Piety, Daazelbazan is only gray stone and black smoke. A tight cluster of narrow streets, halls of drunkenness, alleys of murder and dens of corruption and perversions of every sort. It is also rumored that behind the facades of the pleasure palaces and houses of ill repute, one will find temples and sanctuaries devoted to monstrous deities of unspeakable aspect.

But the city became known for something else entirely; the strange music created by a small collective of bards and performers who had taken refuge in the derelict quarters of the city. It was rumored that the music was of an intensity and sound unlike anything heard outside of the city's walls. Some said it was used to summon demonic beings or to inspire extra-dimensional trances. Others said it was merely a reaction to  the oppressive surroundings.

Scrolls and books of Daazelbazan songs became highly sought-after and fetched high prices in lands far away. But the serious enthusiasts traveled to the forbidden city to learn from the originators of the sound. They learned to down-tune their lutes and citoles to a grim discord  They affixed their hurdy gurdies with extra strings to create unearthly drones. The strings of harps were cut and re-adjusted so to make a high-pitched scraping sounds. A psaltery was played with a metal chip very quickly, creating a sound like the clang of swords. Horns were fashioned from tree limbs harvested from haunted forests or from troll bones. Drums were made from similar ghostly trees and beast hides.

Alternate Bard Templates:


DOOMSKALD
Scribe and lyricist of grim lore. Can recite and chant accounts and sagas of the most baneful of histories. Will play a haunting and sorrowful melody which can cause feelings of crushing guilt, grief, and hopelessness.

DRONE WITCH
Can use a stringed instrument or horn to create an oppressive drone that can cause madness, energy drain and fear.

LUNGSMEN
Carry long pipes which are used for the ritualistic smoking of mystic herbs as well as for creating a loud meditative resonance that can produce a slow, soporific effect.

Other favorite Anti Hero Bards~

Heart Breakers Bone Breakers

"Elemental Girl" by FastFood

The road from the Willows to the Slenderside is a lonely one. The only place to stop and take shelter is an old long house that smells like tobacco spit and greasy dog shits. The long house once served a logging camp. It's full of nothing now. 

But if you come out the western bridge to Slenderside you'll be treated to a nice view of the Stone Valley. There's an old quarry down there. It's where the prisoners from Slenderside get sent for work detail. All covered in white dust, digging and hewing in the rock, coughing up something fierce. All black blood caked around their mouths. 

Get to close to the edge of the valley and you can hear them calling out for water. Sons of bitches only give them water twice a day. Three times if the rain barrels are full.

There was a man named Grins. A real cussardly fuck if you know what I mean. Grins got pinched trying to fence some fancy incense burner or candle or some gold thing from the temple of Starius. Anyway, he had an elf girl on the side. See, they're not so open minded in Slenderside. Even a drunkard and a thief knows better than to be seen with an elf girl up there. Damn shame too. Some people just can't get their turds into the bucket, you know what I mean?

Anyway, our boy Grins gets sent to the Stone Valley for his trouble. He tells the elf girl to create a diversion so he can try and make a break for it. He had it all planned out. So what happens? The elf girl goes down there and calls out to the bosses. Short skirt, black leggings, you know, the works! So the bosses go to make time with the elf girl and Grins tries to make a break for it. He's got five other guys with him too. They're all shackled together you know.

So Grins and his Chain Gang make a run for it and it goes good for about a minute until he looks back and sees his elf girl and the bosses all aiming crossbows at them. One, two, three, five. They hit every man on the chain. Grins is struggling up the hill, pulling five dead men. As soon as he gets to the top, there's a Percy with a rock. Percy gives Grins three big strikes and he's out. Blood everywhere. 

The bosses all light cigars, give the pretty elf lady their regards, and tell the rest of the men to pull Grins and his crew down the hill. Pink dust just blowing around in the afternoon breeze. Yup, a real shame. They kept the bodies on that chain to spook the rest of the men. After the hacks couldn't take the smell, they finally buried them.